Saturday, December 19, 2009

Sarah Vs. Delusional Memories

Preface: I believe that children are a blessing and one of the most rewarding decisions you can make in your life. This does not mean that the process for obtaining them is nine months of euphoria. Worth it? Yes. Glorious? No.

My legs hurt, my hips hurt, my back hurts, my stomach itches. I am too hot or too cold all the time, I can't reach my feet, I still have morning sickness, I have really bad heartburn, and I have to go to the bathroom every hour. I am exhausted but can't sleep (see bathroom every hour). The baby keeps alternately pinching the nerves in my legs with his head and reshuffling my ribs with his feet. If one more woman tells me that being pregnant is the most glorious experience in the world I am going to shove one of the socks I cannot get on my feet down her throat.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Sarah Vs. the Telemarketer

One of the lovely ladies at the Ball State University Development offices called me to beg for our money as they do every year. Ah the Ball State Telethon... Usually I recognize the number and ignore the call as I used to work in conjunction with these ladies processing the donations they received and I remember the number. So anyways, this year I fed her a line about hard times and all, blah, blah, blah, baby on the way...

That is not the reason we don't donate to the university. The reason we don't donate is because Rob won't let us donate until Parking Services admits they were wrong and returns our $600 dollars in bogus parking fees we had to pay to get our diplomas from them. As I never see this happening, I don't know that I will ever be allowed to contribute to our beloved Alma Matter. I was, however, a little hesitant to admit this to the nice girl on the other end of the phone who I am sure had nothing to do with this grave injustice and does after all have a monetary goal to meet.

I hung up, feeling bad for lying to the girl until my phone rang again. It was the same girl, asking for Rob so she could ask him for money instead of me! As I know for a fact it lists us as married on the screen she is working from because I helped build that database, I immediately stopped feeling guilty and hung up on the little pipsqueak.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Apparently I Smell

I have noticed a very interesting little trend in the last couple months that has exponentially increased in the last couple weeks. Everywhere I go in the house I have at least one, usually two shadows. I suppose they are smelling the hormonal changes, but every time I sit down one of them jumps on my lap and rubs their faces on my belly. It is sorta weird, very funny and slightly inconvenient. Every time I stop moving I get swarmed by kitties winding around my feet, sitting on my lap or keyboard or desk or in between me and my dinner... I wonder if they will be this friendly with the baby?

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Bummer

I saw a recipe for Creme de Menthe brownies a month ago that looked amazing. It took me a while to get to a liquor store to buy the necessary Creme de Menthe for the recipe so I finally got around to making them yesterday. After two failed batches of brownies, I finally found a recipe worthy of the delicious minty frosting. I frosted them, crushed Andes mints on top of them, admired how pretty they were, and prepared to eat one. No dice, the baby was not in the mood for minty deliciousness so instead I sat on the kitchen floor and cried. After more than a month of anticipation, I was too nauseous to even attempt them. Of course Rob comes home from work at that precise moment and is left trying to figure out whether I am really that upset about just brownies, the pregnancy or something else entirely. I am sure he thinks that I have lost my sanity...

After staring at the brownies all day today, I took them to work so that someone could enjoy them. Apparently they were a hit, I believe it took about ten minutes for all of them to disappear. I did break off a corner of one tonight before the last one got devoured. Wow...definite keeper recipe.

Friday, December 11, 2009

I Miss my Brain

Apparently my brain took vacation yesterday. I had to call twice to ask what time my doctor's appointment was, left the house in slippers, which are not snow appropriate footwear, then forgot to get half my grocery list at the store. I got home, started baking, added the wrong kind of nuts to the no-spit candy, forgot half the butter in the brownies, re-made them, realized the recipe was just gross, and had to throw out a whole recipe of ginger molasses cookies because the dough was too hard to work or I was too frazzled or both.

We are going to attempt the baking thing again today, hopefully my brain is well rested from its day off.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Sarah vs. the Customers with No Shame

I ran across a new specimen of human last night. A lady sat down with her three children, husband and father-in-law.

Me: Ma'am your sweater still has the price tag on it. Would you like me to get that for you? (It was in the back and hard for her to reach).
Her: Oh, no, I haven't decided if I am taking it back yet.

Later in the dinner, she stopped me as I was on my way to another table with their food...

Her: Here, we are done with these ramekins, take them with you.
Me: (Showing her that my hands were full) I will be right back to get them, just let me drop off this table's food.
Her: (Trying to put them on the other table's plate) Just take them with you now.
Me: Ma'am my hands are full right now, if you will just let me set down these plates I will be right back for your dirty dishes.
Her: I will just sit them on this wall for you then.
Me: That would be better ma'am.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Pumpkin

I finally figured out how to get pictures from my phone to the computer...so here is Rob's pumpkin, a month and a half late but hey...

It was supposed to have fangs and horns, but he said real babies were much scarier and I am inclined to agree with him.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

December

December already... The really great thing about new year's resolutions is that if you aren't organized enough to remember where you put them, you can tell yourself you accomplished all of them.

Usually December is my last ditch effort to accomplish those things on my January list. Since I cannot find the January list of resolutions, I consulted the list that I made in May when we found out we were going to have a baby. So far, the only thing not done on the list in making diapers for the baby. Every part of our house has been tackled and decluttered, with the exception of the Army paperwork, which scares me. All of our half finished home improvement projects are done and the guest room has been modified for the baby. So December's projects include two baby quilts, roughly sixty cloth diapers and a pretentious, multi-course Christmas dinner.

We are not travelling this year, so my best friend and her hubby are coming up for the holiday. After chatting last night, we decided to have a really pretentious dinner with china and courses and everything, since it will be the last chance to do it without babies underfoot. This is going to be so much fun... This is somewhat of a departure from my family's Christmas pot of Chili tradition. All I know about the menu so far is we are having a cheese course, and we are not having ham. I am experimenting with homemade gelato recipes and trying to come up with some good deserts that don't have chocolate, coconut or nuts in them...maybe cannolis?

Thursday, November 26, 2009

What's In a Name?

After our birthing class Monday, Rob and I were chatting with another couple about names for the baby. When we told them we were seriously considering Gustav, the man laughed. This is a reaction I am getting used to, but his explanation for the mirth was better than most...

"With a name like that you are giving the child no choice but to be a world leader, musical prodigy, great military mind, innovative scientist. I just can't imagine a guy named Gustav being a normal guy."

While I have to admit it isn't really a ho-hum kind of name and I believe names can influence the kind of person you become, I am more inclined to think that if we actually called him Gustav from birth, he may just become the anti-thesis of our dreams for him, a successful Brain if you will or a baby Stewie with plans to take over the world fresh out of the womb.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

I'm Blaming it on Pregnancy

Last week my cousin and I put down wood floors in the kitchen. To do this, we had to get all of the appliances out of the kitchen. The dishwasher hasn't been draining right and had three inches of water that smelled like sewage in the bottom of it. We used a shop-vac to drain the dishwasher, but while attempting to disconnect the dishwasher, we managed to flood the kitchen. So we manage to get the dishwasher out of the way and the water shut off and my cousin's one year old decided to have a meltdown at that particular moment. She goes to tend to the baby and is standing there watching me clean up the mess while she calms the baby down.

Rewind to three months ago
I am standing in my kitchen deciding what to get rid of in my annual kitchen purge. I am holding a mop in my hand that I have not used in five years thinking "I haven't used this in five years, I have a swiffer, I will never use this again," and tossed it into the goodwill pile.

Now back to the flood
I am mopping up the mess with a pile of sham-wows and wringing them into a bucket and cursing myself for getting rid of the mop. My cousin is laughing at me, she cannot believe I don't have a mop, I am grumbling that I hadn't thought about the efficiency of swiffers in flood intervention. By the time everything is cleaned up, I am in a spectacularly foul mood.

Later that night
We are getting ready for bed and I realize that...I have a shop-vac! I tell my cousin and husband about it and they are laughing at me, then my cousin points out that not only do I have a shop-vac, but I had been wringing the shammies out into the bucket part of the shop-vac. Because I don't have a mop anymore, I don't have a mop bucket either. I remind her that she stood there and watched me and it didn't click with her either. Then I remember that I had actually had to dismantle the shop-vac to get the bucket. While I am lamenting having made the situation so much more difficult for myself my husband's only comment was "the baby is doomed."

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Sarah Vs. Well, Umm, Old People

Old Lady: Where on your menu are the bacon and eggs?
Me: Umm, we don't have any
Old Lady: Why not? That is what I am in the mood for.
Me: Well, ma'am, this is a steakhouse that is never open for breakfast.
Old Lady: Well, now I have no idea what I want, I really wanted bacon and eggs.
Me: Well we have bacon and we have eggs, I see no reason why we couldn't make you a bacon and egg plate. Do you want toast too?
Old Lady: Yes please, do you have wheat toast?
Me: Well no, we have white bread, and we don't have a toaster, but we could grill it a little for you.
Old Lady: That will be fine, with some jam.
Me: All we have is mint jelly and raspberry puree for the cheesecake.
Old Lady: I guess that will have to do then.

In the kitchen

Me: I have an order for bacon eggs, toast and the raspberry syrup we put on cheesecake.
Cook: What?
Me: Its an old lady, she wants what she wants.
Cook: Why doesn't she go to Denny's across the street? Or Cracker Barrel?
Me: Well, her husband is getting a filet and a martini, I don't think he could get that at Denny's or Cracker Barrel.

At least they thought I was charming and accommodating and complemented me. Sometimes this "no rules" policy thing gets really funny.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Baby Names

The great baby name debate, Month 7 update:

Tired of surfing the net looking for ideas, Rob and I checked out a baby name book from our birthing class and went through the boy section writing down every name that seemed somewhat plausible. Now instead of five or six choices to argue about we have forty-odd choices to argue about. One step forward, twenty steps back...

This is muddled even further by the fact that we want this baby to have an oldest child sounding name and while I am not sure exactly what that means or that it necessarily applies to girls, it seems that the oldest boy should have a solid responsible sounding name, e.g. Theodore or Vincent instead of Linus or Felix.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Who Knew?

If Walt is leaving point A to go to point B, averaging 50 mph to cover 8.7 miles and Rob gets a wake up call that Walt has left for destination B, how long can Rob stay in bed assuming he can make it from bed to car in 3 min and will average 40 mph to cover the 2.2 miles between point C and destination B?

And you thought those problems would never come up in real life...

Thursday, November 5, 2009

It Can Be Taught

As a woman who has learned to live with her man in relative peace and harmony, I am a firm believer in using positive reinforcement to reinforce desirable behavior in my mate. We jokingly call this "training" him and I thought I had been rather subtle about it over the years. It keeps me from having to nag and I don't kill him for not being a woman able to understand hints. These behaviors that we have worked on tasks having to do with dirty laundry making it to the hamper, learning to actually use a dishwasher, taking out the trash and other simple tasks.

It occurred to me while talking to a friend today about doing laundry that I have been trained as well and never even realized it. My friend asked why Rob couldn't help with the laundry and after I expressed horror over the thought it dawned on me. There is no reason why a man as intelligent as Rob should be unable to master folding clothes or grocery shopping from a specific list. The only conclusion that I have been able to reach is that he has mastered ineptness in these tasks so that I will only ask him to do them as a last resort.

Of course there are chores that both of us hate and the other doesn't mind so a natural division of chores has evolved, but with laundry and grocery shopping, chores we both dislike, I feel I have been outmaneuvered.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Belated Musings

It occurs to me that the Christmas garland that is laying on my office floor really should join the rest of the Christmas decorations in the garage before everyone gets here this weekend. On the other hand, it is November. If I put it off another three weeks it will time to hang it back up. So what do you think? Christmas decoration that hung until mid September and has been coiled neatly on my office floor since then. Hang it back up, leave it where it is, or put it away?

Monday, November 2, 2009

Frankenberry

My friend Sarah and I go grocery shopping on Sundays together.

Sarah: Oo! look, Frankenberry cereal for a dollar a box!
Me: I haven't had that since I was a kid, grab me a box too.
Me: (Inspecting the box) I can't remember what it tastes like
Sarah: It tastes like sugar now put it in the cart

For the record, it tastes like the berry part of Crunch Berry cereal mixed with the marshmallows from Lucky Charms. Weird.

Milton, Homer, Ovid and Poe for Babies

One of the girls from work asked if I had been reading to the baby. Apparently they have discovered that reading to the child in the womb and playing music for them has no effect whatsoever on their intelligence, so I haven't really been doing it. I told her as much and she expressed surprise that me being such an avid reader hadn't been reading to the baby. Selfishly, I see my reading time mostly disappearing after the bundle of joy arrives and have been reading obsessively for the last few months (at the rate of 8 or 9 books a week). I would share my books with him, but reading aloud slows me down. The one exception has been with epic poems. I tend to skip too much if I read those silently and tend to read them aloud. So to date, the only things that have been read to my child are "Paradise Lost," "The Illiad," "Metamorphoses," and some of Poe's poetry. At least if the studies are wrong and children are affected by what is read to them in the womb, my baby was exposed to some of the more pretentious classics. This should ensure that he is a book snob, correct?

Friday, October 30, 2009

Less than Legal Endeavors

The other night my teacher friend called me to see if I would run to the school with her to pick up her laptop. The neighborhood is not the safest and she figured it was safer for two people to wander around Indy's less desirable parts than one (that and despite being pregnant, I am far bigger, stronger, and meaner than she is). We get to the school, park, walk to the building, unlock the door with her key, take two steps into the building and...alarms start shrieking. After a frozen moment of "what did we do now?" we run to the classroom, retrieve the laptop, and make our escape. On our way out of the school, we stop at the main building to try to inform security that we aren't miscreants vandalizing school property. Unable to find anyone, we decide to just leave. As we pull out onto the road, we are stopped by one of Indy's finest who informs us that despite having a key and a right to the property in the building we really are not allowed in the school without permission from the principle and a heads-up call to the police before we intend to break into the school. I suppose in the future I should ask her if there is any chance we could be arrested when she asks me along on an adventure.

Interesting side note: the school is Arsenal school and is housed in Indianapolis' old...you got it...arsenal. It is a very cool property dating back to civil war times. It was later converted to a high school and is currently Indianapolis' oldest high school. Driving through it you get the immediate feel that it is a military post. I think it would be an interesting place to go to school. Check out some of the history: www.athsalumni.org/Campus.htm www.nps.gov/nr/travel/indianapolis/arsenaltech.htm Ignore the creepy version of "Blue Skies" that plays on the first site.

Friday, October 16, 2009

This Just In...

From NPR's Wait Wait Don't tell Me Game Show...

They are recreating the Titanic's last voyage for the one hundredth anniversary on the H.M.S. Balmoral. Same number of passengers, same menu, same music selection, (my friend pipes in here...same iceberg). The hosts of the show commented that they hoped none of the passengers were packing irony while another added that while there was tempting fate and then there was giving it a lap dance.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Sarah vs. the Morons (Part III)

Customer: What are the ingredients of this bread?
Me: Well I don't know all of them but it is a honey wheat bread.
Customer: Why is it brown?
Me: It has a small amount of pumpernickel flour in it to give it color.
Customer: I will need to see the ingredient label.
Me: Well the box is rather large to bring out here, what are you allergic to and I will go look for you.
Customer: I want to make sure there is no caffeine in it.
Me: In the bread?
Customer: Yes.
Me: There is no caffeine in the bread ma'am
Customer: I just need to see for myself that it isn't coffee giving it that brown color, I'm not allergic to caffeine, I just don't want to be up all night from eating too much bread.

Hard to argue with that...I wouldn't want to be up all night from eating bread either.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Thought for the Day

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. From what I could tell from the little bit or research I was able to do, his winning the prize is a departure from the tradition of awarding the prize to people for extraordinary achievements in promoting peace. Rather, he seems to have been awarded the prize for what he plans to do in the future and has started to do. My political views aside, since when do we award people for good intentions?

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Denial

We have three cats. Two of them are rather large, running somewhere in the 15-18 lb range, and the other one is 7 lbs. We have four cat beds located in various places throughout the house. One of the large cats realizes that he is a big kitty and usually chooses one of the two cat beds large enough to hold him. The tiny cat usually opts for one of the big beds as well as she tends to sprawl while sleeping. The other big cat seems to think he is much smaller than he is as he always picks one of the small beds. This generates quite a bit of amusement as he always has rolls of fat hanging over the edge of the cat bed and the whole combination resembles nothing as much as a mushroom.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Feed Your Family

Feed your family of four for $10.85 at Outback Steakhouse (where incidentally, the average entree runs from $10-$22). How, you ask?

Step One: Sit down with your wife and two teenage children
Step Two: Order four waters
Step Three: Order two six ounce sirloins with two extra plates
Step Four: Present a buy one get one $9.95 entree free coupon
Step Five: Chew out your waitress because the restaurant doesn't have crackers to fill up your children because you are too cheap to actually get them food

All I have to say about this situation is if you are really that strapped for money, then it is irresponsible to eat out at all. I can feed a family of four for $10.00 quite easily at the grocery store.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Why am I so OCD?

I am feeling my lack of preparedness for the baby. Though he is not due till February, I have yet to buy anything for him. The baby shower is in 5 weeks or so and I don't see the point in shopping until after that, but my super controlling nature that demands overpreparation for everything is starting to shout that I am not ready for him to be here. This is bleeding into my dreams... Last night I dreamed that I went to get a new cell phone and instead of handing me a phone back, they handed my baby. Rather than being happy about finally getting to hold him I freaked out about not being ready. I was telling the Verizon clerk that I couldn't take the baby because I didn't have a car seat or bottles or clothes or anything, so they would just have to keep him for a few days until I could get to the store.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Wiki Name Game

Still rather undecided about what to name our son, Rob and I played the Wikipedia game last night to get some ideas for a name. We went to Wikipedia, hit 'random article' and wrote down the first five male names that we found. After going through about fifteen articles, we finally found our five names...

1. Joseph
2. Joseph
3. Joseph (and these were all from separate articles)
4. Thomas
5. Walter


The really funny thing is we picked out the name Joseph for our firstborn when we got married four odd years ago and that was the name we had picked out until about two months into the pregnancy. We rejected it because my brother's name is Joseph and we didn't want it to get confusing. Here we are poised at the six month mark and it is still the only name we can agree on. Weird...

Smile!

This just made me smile today...




Have a wonderful day!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Wipeout

So for those of you who do watch TV, there is a new game show called wipeout. They have an obstacle called the big balls which consists of (surprise!) four large red bouncy balls that resemble frosting balloons on a cake. Now if the contestant takes too long contemplating how to make it across the big balls, they are 'motivated' by a large red pendulum.

An example of someone who almost gets motivated... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nym7HiwkUL4

I had my own encounter with the motivator last night. I came home from work and my hubby had decided to help me get around to tackling the laundry pile that I had been ignoring quite deliberately for four days. He has figured out that if he starts it I will fold it and put it away so it doesn't get wrinkly. Also, if it is in my kitchen it is much harder to ignore than in a hamper in the bedroom...

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Sarah Vs. the Morons (Pt. II)

I don't know why I attract these people, but I want it to stop...

I have been sick this week, so yesterday I went to the doctor.

Doctor: Please describe your symptoms
Me: I have a stuffy nose, low grade fever, sinus pain, my teeth hurt, chest congestion, coughing, sore throat and an earache on the right side.
Doctor: Why are you here?
Me: I was told high fevers were bad for the baby and it has been skirting 100 degrees. Also it has been three days, I am getting worse and cannot miss anymore work. I work in a restaurant and thought I should try to not be contagious.
Doctor: (checks my breathing, eyes, nose, throat, and one ear). What have you been taking?
Me: Sudafed and Tylenol...I thought that was all I was allowed to take over the counter.
Doctor: Well I could give you an antibiotic but I don't know if it is viral or bacterial. Which does it feel like to you?
Me: Ummm....I don't know? That's why I am here.
Doctor: Well which is it usually? Do antibiotics usually help you?
Me: Depends on whether it is viral or not...I usually can take other over the counter drugs, but I was worried about the fever with the baby and Tylenol is not doing anything.
Doctor: Well I really don't know what to tell you...does it feel like Sinusitis?
Me: You are the doctor, you tell me...
Doctor: What do you want me to do?
Me: Tell you what, you give me antibiotics, if it is viral, I will be in the same situation I was in. If it is even partially bacterial, the antibiotics will help.
Doctor: Well I will give you Amoxicillin
Me: I am immune to Amoxicillin
Doctor: Well I know that one is safe with pregnancy
Me: Well there is no point in me taking it...it won't do any good.
Doctor: What other ones are safe with pregnancy?
Me: I don't know, this is a doctor's office, surely there is a list of that sort of thing around here somewhere
Doctor: Well what did we give you last time?
Me: You have my chart in front of you, why don't you look? And last time I wasn't pregnant so you will still have to check and see if it is safe for the baby.
Doctor: Cephelexin...hmmm...do you know if that is one of the safe ones?
Me: ????? Why don't you look it up?
Doctor: Oh, I guess I will go look it up then...are you sure you don't want amoxicillin?
Me: Please just check the list....
Doctor: Oh, turns out it is just as safe as the Amoxicillin.
Me: Can I go now?

I go to this doctor's office all the time and usually they are quite competent...I think I should have gone to med school after all...but really, asking me to diagnose myself bacterial or viral? Asking me what to prescribe? What is safe when she has my history and the Internet at her fingertips?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Sarah Vs. the Morons

Me attempting to order pizza today:

Me: I have a coupon for one large specialty pizza and one two topping for $20.99
Papa John's lady: What would you like for those?
Me: I would like a Hawaiian for the specialty and a pepperoni mushroom for the two topping
Papa John's lady: I got the two topping but did you want the barbecued chicken or barbecued chicken and pineapple?
Me: I don't want barbecued chicken at all, I want ham and pineapple.
Papa John's lady: We can't do that
Me: Do you have ham and pineapple?
Papa John's lady: Yes
Me: Why can't you put them on a pizza?
Papa John's lady: We can't do that
Me: Can I use that as my two topping pizza?
Papa John's lady: Yes
Me: So I can do that
Papa John's lady: Yes, But you can't do that with your coupon. I can give you the barbecued chicken pizza for $17.99 though
Me: I don't like barbecued chicken
Papa John's lady: I'm sorry ma'am but you won't be able to use that coupon
Me: What if I did ham and pineapple for the two topping and a deluxe or supreme or whatever for the specialty pizza
Papa John's lady: That would be fine
Me: But I can't sub a cheaper pizza for the deluxe
Papa John's lady: No ma'am
Me: Whatever, I will do the ham and pineapple and a deluxe pizza then.
Papa John's lady: Thank you that will be ready in 30 minutes

I really don't understand...

Saturday, September 5, 2009

It Takes A Child

After trying for months to get on a more regular morning schedule and failing miserably, I have found the key. The last two months I have woken up between six and eight in the morning every morning to answer nature's call. Unable to get back to sleep as Rob's alarm starts going off at this point, I have been able to actually stay up most mornings. Apparently having a child squishing the bladder is one way to get a night person up in the morning. I get the idea the little darling's sleep habits will do the job once he is born.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Just My Luck...

My boss was trying to get ahead on end of month entries tonight and asked if I thought I would be done at eleven (we close at ten). I laughed and told him that when I am head wait we always have a table walk in three minutes before close or a big party in the last hour. The odds of this happening are doubled if I actually have stuff to do after work which was the case tonight. Sure enough, at 9.43pm, we had a tour bus pull up outside with 23 Brazilian? agricultural leaders wanting a lot of food and spirits. I finally left work around 11.45 proving that my luck truly is that bad... I hate being right sometimes.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Monday

My in-laws are coming to visit for Rob's birthday next Monday. It is the first time they will see our house and I am very excited. As the house is fairly clean, this gives me proper motivation to tackle the clutter issues that have plagued us since we moved in. It also wouldn't hurt to go through some of this stuff before the baby gets here.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Finally!

Its a Boy!!!

Kitty Prison

Our cat is confined to the easily cleaned bathroom for what is, I'm sure, a direct result of his own stupidity. He manages to get himself blocked up every couple months or so by eating plastic bags, ribbons, hair ties, the discarded hair from my comb, Kleenex or basically whatever he runs across in the course of daily kitty investigations. Then we have to feed him lots of laxatives and keep him locked up until he passes whatever it is and solidifies again. This means that for a couple days we have been training for when the baby gets here. Night and day and cacophony of yowls and pitiful mewling have been coming from that bathroom as if we had totally forgotten the terms of his imprisonment. I get the sense it is a promise to never be that foolish again if we will only let him out, but as this is the fourth time in the last twelve months... I really hope he wears himself out today so I can sleep tonight...

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Explanation

I have finally gotten around to reading Atlas Shrugged which is supposedly Ayn Rand's (my favorite author) crowing achievement. I have to say, one third of the way through it, I am impressed...

Money Diatribe

Money is only a tool. it will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. it will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality--the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.

Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has not concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he's evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgement , ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the chats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money.

-Ayn Rand
Atlas Shrugged

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Limited Resources

There comes a time in your life, when there just isn't enough time in the day for everything you have jammed into your life. At this point, the fun process of prioritizing comes into play. Which friends do you allocate time for? And why is it that friends are sometimes the only thing negotiable in your to do list? It feels extremely sad that relationships with other human beings do not have the same urgency of other items on our lists.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Culinary Delight

I found it extremely difficult to get motivated to do anything on my day off, so I chose to do things not on my to do list for the day. First I went to the grocery, then picked up a friend and went searching for essential oils and was only minorly distracted by cranberry maple granola. Then we went to my house and made gazpacho, hummus, a spinach salad, pork chops and brown rice. Then we made a peach raspberry pie. Now that I can say that I didn't blow my whole day I can go to bed with a clear conscience. It has been a while since I cooked for the sheer joy of cooking. Ah, a glimpse of what my life could be like...

Monday, June 1, 2009

Graduation Rant

So I decided to graduate this summer instead of next January because I don't think I want to go to Miami a week away from my due date. I submitted the change of program paperwork and my application for graduation which was due May 29th. I believe I had all of this turned in on Wednesday. Sunday night I get a 'mail undeliverable' email saying That my application for graduation had been returned to me because a Kaplan email address marked an email coming from a Kaplan student account as spam. Now I can't resubmit the paperwork because the date is past and they won't answer their phone! What do I do?

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Anniversary thoughts

Rob and I just celebrated our four year anniversary this past week. We also found out that we were going to be parents this past week. At dinner celebrating both having made it four years and finally getting started on our family, we talked about how we thought we were doing on the joint five year plan we made when we got married. For the most part we have done fairly well on our list of shared goals. Some items didn't happen the way we thought they would. For example, we had both wanted to have 'real' jobs. We both still work for the company we worked for when we got married, but Rob has moved up in the company to an office position and I have stayed because of the flexibility it allows me to pursue my degree and get our company up and running. We also discussed where we wanted to be five more years from now.

I think it is very important in a marriage to set joint goals. I have known couples that both have five year plans that are independent of the other... What happens if you reach your goals and you weren't working towards the same thing? It ends up pulling you apart! On the other hand, when the two of you are pulling together towards a shared purpose, you are more likely to succeed than on your own and when you get there, you will end up in the same place as your spouse.

Where were we supposed to be by May of next year?
Have finished master's degree (me)
Have started grad school (Rob)
Have our own home
Have real jobs
Have started planning for retirement
Have started a family

Our first two goals have to do with finishing our education. I will graduate in July of this year with my MBA, then return to finish my concentration area (March hopefully). Rob is a little behind on his as we had to be sure we were staying somewhere for two or three years before he could apply for grad school. He is looking at masters programs locally and thinking about studying for the GRE.

The next three goals had to do with gaining financial and geographic stability so that we could...start a family without worrying about money on top of the stress and excitement of a baby. While we haven't bought a house yet, we have made it out of apartment complexes.

The next five years will hopefully bring a couple more kids, a house of our own, my sister and I's company taking off. Rob hopes to be working with either the military or on an international level in his company and have finished his master's degree. I hope and pray that wherever we end up we can find a church family that feels like home. The Lord has kept us so far. We have a good life and it has been an amazing four years together!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Road Trip (Part III)

Due to much complaining that there were no pictures of me...here is one of the few pics taken on vacation that has me in it...


Interference

I won't be on here for a couple weeks due to school and life in general interfering with my Internet time. My apologies... As far as updates go, I got a call back from a firm I applied to so I might be joining the adult world and getting a real job sometime this summer. I have planted part of my plants for the summer. My house is finally starting to look good on a consistent basis. I got enough veggies from the store to make seven or eight excellent soups over the next couple weeks so we should be eating good for a little bit at least. I managed to survive Mother's day at the restaurant without yelling at anyone or hurting myself. I'm exhausted and can't wait till my next school break...seven weeks and one day, not that I'm counting the days. I miss my social life and will hopefully emerge sometime in the near future a stronger and better person for the experience. I think Rob has made the top of my hit list for encouraging the going back to school madness...

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Doctors and the Like

Having been sick since Thursday...NOT with swine flu as everyone keeps asking...I agreed to go to the doctor if I didn't feel better today. I woke up this morning and for the first time in five days, I could breathe. Relieved that I wasn't going to have to take time out of my busy day for a doctor's appointment, I got up and started getting ready. Then I looked in the mirror and decided that maybe I should go to the doctor after all. A quick search of WebMD confirmed my suspicions and I was off to see a very excited doctor who "had never seen a case this bad before!" Really, could you contain your excitement at least a little bit? Then a whole lot of phone tag to find someone to cover my shift. Apparently I have pink eye, which normally wouldn't bother me too much, but she told me to throw away my toothbrush, contacts, and wash my sheets and towels. For the record, my project for last Sunday was the bathroom and bedroom. I just changed the sheets two days ago, my toothbrush and contacts are two days old... It hurts a little to throw away three month lenses that have been worn once. Oh well. The bright side is I have the night off, so I should have plenty of time to get my homework done.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Road Trip (Part II)

These pictures are from days two and three of our trip. On those two days, we went from Albany, NY to Saratoga Springs, NY to Green Mountain National Forest in VT, to Montpelier and Burlington, VT to Concord, NH. We finally stopped north of Portland, ME at the end of the third day.

This picture is of the Capitol building in Albany, NY. It is the only state house in the country that does not have a dome.
This shot was of the skylight at the top of the million dollar staircase in the capitol building.


A very cool old fashioned lift.


A waterfall with a restaurant overlooking it in Quechee, VT.


The bridge over Quechee Gorge in VT.


The view from the bridge over Quechee Gorge. We hiked about a quarter of the way down in before the snow and ice and our inappropriate footwear forced us to turn back (apparently sneakers aren't the best choice for hiking downhill in snow...).



Stay tuned for pictures from Acadia National Park...

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Road Trip (Part I)

I shot twenty rolls of film on our great Northeastern road trip. As I foresee this week being less busy, I will try to pick a couple of my favorites from each roll for your viewing pleasure.

April 1, 2009
This roll was shot in Erie, PA and Buffalo, NY on day one of our trip. It rained the entire day, and most of our photography took place while negotiating an umbrella or through car windows. This first shot was at Presque Isle State Park. We had debated not going to see this lighthouse as we thought we would see a bunch in Maine, but it turned out that by the time we got to Maine, we were behind schedule and didn't get to see any after all so I am glad that we saw this one.

This one is of a windmill in Erie itself. I just liked how simple the picture was.

The next photo, off of roll 2 was taken in Buffalo, NY. For the most part Buffalo struck me as a dirty city, but they did have some beautiful architecture.

I thought this shot looked like it could have been taken 70 years ago if you ignore the shiny modern building in the top middle left of the picture.


This one was taken in Rochester, NY at the George Eastman museum of Photography, which incidentally had some amazing photo opportunities. All of my pictures from there turned out amazing, but this was the only one that had any color in it. After 30 hours of rain, it was nice to see something bright.

I took this picture on the road leaving Syracuse, NY. It was the only sunshine we saw all day and it lasted for about 45 seconds before we were flattened by another thunderstorm. If you look very very closely at the picture you will see the relatively tiny storm system off in the distance. (Actually by the time I had snapped the picture and had one foot back in the car it was pouring).



Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Ahhh

Yesterday we painted the office. You know you have good friends when you say I'm painting the office this weekend and they ask if they can help. We left the chocolate accent wall and painted over the gold sponge painted walls with a nice taupe. We painted the trim an off white and hung curtains. We cleaned, we rearranged and changed the outlets. It is a completely different room. I worked in the office the entire day today without being distracted by piles of paperwork or anything else. Thank you so much guys! You have given me a peaceful haven to do my work in. I am sure at some point I will get the opportunity to return the favor :)

Friday, April 17, 2009

What I'm excited about

I get my vacation pictures back tomorrow! My office might actually get painted this weekend and I might get to see my friend this weekend! The only downer is that my hubby has drill and will be gone all weekend...

Friday, April 10, 2009

I'm not dead

I'm not dead, just busy. I finally got around to taking my first real vacation in almost four years last week. Monica and I went on a road trip to Maine. We had an awesome time hitting the capitals of every state in the northeast. In my opinion the two best places we saw by far were Acadia National Park and downtown Boston. Cape Cod won the best food award and Montpelier won the most pathetic state capitol award. Columbus had the worst capital building, Albany and Harrisburg, PA the best. New York's senators gave us a new perspective on the character (and pettiness) of politicians, Concord's representatives showed that politicians can be civilized. We hiked the cliffs of Acadia and walked the historic Boston downtown, went to the Culinary Institute of America, camped in Vermont (cold!), touched our toes in the ocean, watched the tide come in, looked at more than a few boats, encountered a little blizzard in PA and 70 degree weather in NY, ate a lobster, oysters, crab cakes, clams, scallops, clam chowder, lobster bisque, shrimp, trout, tuna, and some amazing crab avocado mango terrine. All I can say is wow and I'm exhausted. I should have pictures developed in a week or so and I will try to post some.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Status Update

Taxes are done! Check! A whole month early too...

The house is looking good on a consistent basis and my best friend is coming to town! Its almost my birthday and my husband has been able to keep a secret up till now. What am I doing on my birthday?...I don't know.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Taxes

Now usually, I am pretty good about getting taxes done in an non-last-minute sort of style. I have had them done as early as Valentine's Day before. Last year, however, was not my shining moment of togetherness. In March, my sister got married, then I had finals, then I started packing for our early April move. I couldn't find all my tax documents out of the boxes in time so I filed an extension. Last minute again, in June, I finally did my taxes, e-filed them and waited patiently for the direct deposit to post to my account. I got a strange check in the mail a couple weeks later that was not for the same amount as my refund from a bank I had never heard of and had one of those weird disclaimers attached to it like if you cash this check you are certifying this loan. I burned the check. Two months later and no refund yet, I called the IRS. Turns out one of the routing numbers was wrong and the check I burned was my refund. To get it reissued, we had to have a form notarized and by November, I finally had my tax check.

Now this year, hopefully we can avoid all the fuss and get it right the first time, which I will be attempting tonight. I really hate doing taxes...

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Give that Girl a Twinkie!

"My body is a temple and sometimes my temple wants cheesecake."

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Catch Up

I finally got a chance to get online and catch up on a bunch of stuff, bills, correspondence, my business, email, reading how everyone is doing. I am in an accounting class which is thoroughly kicking my butt, probably because I want to learn it as well as possible because this is what I want to be when I grow up...I think. So pretty much I go online to do my postings and spend the rest of the day split into three persons which attempt to keep up with the rest of my life. I dreamed last night that while I slept, two of me got up...one was cleaning my house, and the other was doing my homework. I was rudely awakened by Brandi, telling me that it was 6.45 and we needed to go to the doctor. She found it very funny when they said they could squeeze me in at 7.45 and I asked "A.M?" with horror. I am very much looking forward to my April vacation, it couldn't come soon enough.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

My Band

Here is my album cover from my band's first album. This was a lot of fun.

Rules

Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7daysThird picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.(If you spend more than 5 minutes, you're doing it wrong.)




Band name @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snabba_cash

Quotation

What if there is a ruling that, uh, you cannot apply civil penalties to, uh, practicing sodomites?----Howard Phillips

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Book List

So I am supposed to be compiling a list of books one should read if one wants to be considered a 'well read' individual. This list will also be the reading list for my children in middle and high school. I am taking suggestions...if you have a must read classic let me know!

Where is my book?

My whole week has been an exercise in obsessively checking my front porch for my accounting textbook. I normally order from the school bookstore, but as this textbook was remarkably expensive, I looked on half.com and found one for half the price. I did not, however, check the shipping method as I ordered it a week and a half before the class began. Apparently Media Mail means, really really slow mail...and now I understand why the shipping was so cheap. So today I sat in my driveway today waiting for the mailman, met him at his truck, and lo and behold, I now have a textbook! If it had not come today I would have had to buy one from the local college to complete my assignments, leaving me with two really really expensive textbooks. On the plus side, I think my best bet to become rich would be to write textbooks. I can't think of a single reason that a one year old book should go for two hundred dollars.

I am so excited about having tomorrow off from work, I have a laundry pile that is three weeks deep that I am really looking forward to folding and even though I hate vacuuming, I really want to vacuum for some reason. I picked up the house yesterday and it was such a peaceful day in my neat house that I want to compound my pleasure by having a neat and clean house! After that, I think Rob and I have a date. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, or at least it is for someone who works in the restaurant industry.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Looney Bin

Sometimes I think I work at a looney bin. The last week has been an exercise in insanity. We have had new people trying to swallow a tablespoon full of cinnamon in a minute, convinced the new guy that one of the employees had Turret's minus the swearing and had him feeling genuinely sorry for laughing at him, played charades, and had the staff doing shots of energy drinks at the bar. I think I had five energy drinks on Saturday and couldn't stop giggling most of the day. I can only imagine what the customers thought of us. We had so much fun...and now we are all so tired. One more day to go, then I get my day 'off.' I will never be so glad to see a week end. Even now, it is six in the morning and I am too keyed up to sleep. I am never going to get any semblance of a 'normal' schedule.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Sleep, Awake

...is really all I can think about. For some reason, economic indicators don't have a whole lot of meaning for me, although that may not have anything to do with my mental acuity relative to inputted sleep resources or the scarcity thereof. As this is my one day off in a two week period, I feel I should be doing what I can to knock out my homework and it being due today is a small bit of motivation. Unfortunately, being sleep deprived is not conducive to pulling an all-nighter.

I have been daydreaming, at night which ends up being terribly confusing but anyways...daydreaming about college, trying to remember how I kept myself awake. Years of abuse have inured me to the effects of caffeine, it isn't cold enough outside to be bracing, I have already taken two showers tonight, I am running out of ideas...I thought of finally getting a piercing or playing with a nine volt but don't feel like being in pain in addition to being tired. If I remember correctly, in college, I went to the all night coffee shop where it would be rude to fall asleep. I don't think I know of any such places here. Sad, I have lived here, cumulatively, two and half years and don't know where an all night coffee shop is. Pathetic actually...

For What I am About to Receive...I am Truly Grateful

It has been a really rough couple of weeks...

Following both of us taking time off for Rob's dad surgery, we have been working like crazy to catch up, Rob on flight hours and backlogged paperwork, and me the lost money from five missed shifts and getting way behind on homework and housework. Tonight we both got home from work around eleven, collapsed on the couch and commiserated about how beat we were. Both of us will be pulling all-nighters to get our work done in time and we agreed to meet tomorrow night for an extended power nap (known to everyone else on the planet as bedtime, hard to call it sleep when it never seems to be for long enough). I suppose this is great training for when we have children. I feel like I haven't slept in five weeks and I don't foresee it happening anytime soon. Sigh...

While we were whining to one another, he said something that put things into perspective. "Guess we should stop complaining and be thankful that we do have jobs, there are a lot of people who would gladly take our places." He never says much, so it always surprises me when he says something wise that instantly changes my attitude. In the midst of my own futile job search how could I have forgotten that I do have a job and we are able to pay our bills, keep our cars running, keep our heat on, phones connected? I feel humbled...and grateful to God for taking care of us and up till now at least, protecting us from the economic difficulty so many people are facing.

"What recession!" has been the theme at work for the last month or so. The restaurant I work for seems to be untouched by the recession. Yet one more blessing I wasn't appreciating nearly enough. Being employed is nice, but if no one is coming in the doors I don't make any money. God is providing, one night at a time...

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Rainbow Scarf

Here are pictures of the 'rainbow' scarf and hat I did for my niece.




Saturday, February 7, 2009

25 Random Things...

Since I did this for facebook, I figure it should get posted here too although I modified some of it and fixed some errors in reason (thanks sissy!)

1. I have a small library in my office which is meticulously organized and cataloged...the only part of my house that is.
2. I cannot throw away my old floppy disks, even though we don't have a computer that will read them anymore.
3. I am slightly obsessive about list making.
4. The tape dispenser from my parents house is on my desk. It might be older than I am.
5. Current reading selection: Paradise Lost
6: Current music selection: Mozart's Mass in C Minor. If you haven't heard it...hear it...awesome.
7. Am either a very liberal republican or a very conservative democrat. Or something else entirely.
8. The four most populous authors in my book collection are Orson Scott Card, Raymond Feist, Dean Koontz and L.E. Modesitt Jr. So far haven't read much by those guys that I didn't like.
9. Am a member of the laziest book club ever. Originally formed to give moral support while we tackled books we were too scared to read on our own. Unfortunately, we have been giving each other reassurance and excuses not to read the selection.
10. Love snow, love cold, love Indiana, hate vacuuming
11. Love bandannas, wear them every chance I get
12. I am really not as grouchy as everyone seems to think I am
13. Correction on number 1, my pantry is a lesson in classic OCD behavior as well, closet too. Pretty much anywhere that you cant see when you walk in the door is meticulous. The main areas are a disaster.
14. I find paperwork very overwhelming. My mailman is lucky if I empty the mailbox twice a month. I'm really not trying to drive him crazy, I just forget until I realize I haven't paid bills in a while.
15. I wish Indy had a better recycling program
16. I have never gotten my Christmas cards out on time
17. I love Indianapolis. It is the perfect size city. Very little crime comparatively. Traffic is awesome for a big city. It has cultural activities and eccentric ones as well. It also has a sledding hill with a concrete strip at the bottom of it. Kinda sick if you ask me.
18. I wanted to be a trucker for a year in college.
19. I bite off more than I can chew regularly. I wouldn't know how to function any other way.
20. Last year after spending a winter in Alabama, when it snowed for the first time, I wrapped up in a comforter and took some tea out on the balcony and watched it snow for two hours.
21. I feel with the amount of mood swings and intense feelings I have, I should have been a poet or an artist or something angsty.
22. I am supposed to be writing a paper on economic forecasting for a Fortune 500 company of my choice. Sigh...
23. I love my parents and siblings and miss them like crazy. Sometimes I get angry with the nature of adulthood, how it separates us from loved ones.
24. I am terrified of dogs, but want a really really huge one someday, Malmut probably.
25. I think it is funny how disturbed my parents are by my sleep schedule, especially considering that I probably sleep far more hours than they do.

Chaos Studies Pt. 2

The house fell apart over the holidays. I had almost gotten it put back together when we left for Chicago. Now there are four loads of laundry on my guest bed that I have been getting dressed out of and I just did dishes for the first time in a week. I don't understand why it is so hard to keep it picked up. For the most part we put things away when we use them so why can't we ever permanently defeat entropy? I have a theory.

Chaos is a natural byproduct of the imperfect human condition. When we have had a rough day, we 'owe' it to ourselves to come home from work and 'relax,' i.e. veg on the couch, read a book, play online, basically anything but clean house. Unfortunately, we find it difficult to relax in chaos and our days get more and more stressful until we have had enough and take care of the root problem. I am going to have to start doing housework before work again which means...I am going to have to get up earlier than I like...

I remember the good old days when the house seemed to clean itself. Of course, I also remember the conspicuous lack of homework too...I think I am going to blame it on being in school in order to divest myself of personal responsibility and control of the situation. Yeah, that'll work...

Friday, February 6, 2009

Top Ten...

Weird things seen while driving...

1. A man cross country skiing...in Alabama...in August. We actually backed up because we thought we were crazy!
2. A little car pulling a...porta-potty down 465
3. A statue of a boll weevil
4. A confederate flag the size of my garage flying in the middle of 65 S
5. A 20 ft. tall superman statue
6. A moose in the middle of the road
7. Large pink animals...hippos...elephants...etc, that towns decorate with
8. A perfect replica of the ghost buster's car...complete with college students that drove the streets with a megaphone yelling "Happy...insert day of week here...People!" Loved those guys
9. Green air that started rotating around me. As I left it, the tornado lifted off.
10. Van completely covered with medium shag carpet with the dark side of the moon design displayed on the side.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Super Bowl New Year

I had all these deep thoughts I wanted to share on here...but I didn't write them down right away and they left as quickly as they had come. Yesterday we got everyone together for the Super Bowl. It was a lot of fun. We cooked, we ate, we played video games. Eventually we remembered that we were supposed to be watching football and watched the game. In a way it was bittersweet. We used to do this sort of thing weekly, if not more often. The video games, the food, the fellowship... This felt like a last hurrah of sorts. We could feel those who were missing, but also managed to reconnect with old friends we haven't seen in years. So many of us have hit a new stage in life and outside events have taken their toll on our friendships. Some of us are getting ready to move, have children, finish school, start a new job. Strange that this felt more like New Years than New Years did. So is it the end of an era or were we blissfully ignorant of the finite nature of a good thing? We felt it was amazing that we managed to see friends as often as we did being as we were adults and did all have things like jobs and bills. Did we take it for granted? And is it really so horrible that the only people I see regularly now are my husband and one girlfriend? Better or worse? Maybe change isn't all bad. Either way, it is happening and all I can do is enjoy each stage as it comes and hope that all of them are as good as the last couple have been.

For those of you who are leaving...you will be missed
For those of you who left long ago...you are always in our hearts
For those of you whose lives have gotten hectic...we are here, a fifteen minute drive or a phone call away, we will find time in our own busy schedules to be there for our loved ones.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Snow Day

Seems to be a common theme on my friends blogs. We got thirteen inches of snow. I came out the front door to head to work and...screamed...jumped up and down...called my husband, yelling "It's like Christmas out here!" I love snow. I even enjoyed fishtailing the 15 miles to work. Fun stuff. While many people enjoyed their days off, I still had to work. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by how many insane people see thirteen inches of snow and think to themselves...lets go Outback tonight. I suppose it helped that we only had eight servers because many of them got plowed in by the city plows. Rob spent the day running a taxi service for his employees with the truck, but was nice enough to dig my car out before he left. Such a sweet man...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Dante and Krugman

My pleasure book selection for the week or day or month depending on other factors is one called The Dante Club. It is about the four poets who translated Dante for the new world. I have no idea if this is based in fact or completely fiction but it is definitely a topic I will be looking into. The unfortunate side effect is that I wish I were reading the beautiful copy of the Divine Comedy that I picked up over Christmas instead of Paradise Lost. Smells like book, gilded pages, beautiful navy and gold leather etched cover.

Instead of curling up with a book tonight, I wrote five pages on one of the Nobel Prize winners in the Economics category. I picked Paul Krugman, last year's winner. Turns out economics is incredibly fascinating when written about by a person with a sense of humor that lacks the cryptic gene most economists take pride in cultivating. If you have time check this guy out. He writes twice a week for the NY Times and is responsible for modern trade theory. He also coined the New New Deal phrase that Obama's economists are throwing around. I haven't yet figured out if he is helping Obama develop his economic policy or not, but if he is, I would feel a little better about the immediate economic future. I guess this class hasn't been the total wash I was expecting. On the fun side of things, I apparently picked the perfect company to do my SWOT analysis on. I seem to have sparked a lively debate by choosing Microsoft. Seems everyone has an opinion on that particular company.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Nurses know best?

Dad's bypass surgery went well. I know he his feeling better because he was arguing with the nurse about what an acceptable bed time was. She wants him to go to bed at 8.30, he asked why. She says they are going to give him a bath at four in the morning. He doesn't understand why he should try to go to bed six or seven hours before he is usually in bed so they can wake him in the middle of the night for a bath. He feels that if they really want him to rest like they claim, they will let him sleep in. Mom and Monica are still at the hospital, so I am assuming that he won the argument...

I hung out with a family in the waiting room today that made me miss mine. They were loud, outspoken, argued for hours on end good-naturedly about nothing. Quite a difference from Rob's family who are quiet and mostly courteous with each other. I think that I counted fifteen or so of them crammed into the tiny waiting room. Mom couldn't understand how I could do homework in that chaos...how could I explain to her that it was easier to focus there than in the absolute silence of the hallway. Anyway...I finally got the big project that I have been working on done...I feel I have earned a solid night of sleep.

You Guys are the Best

I want to send out a big thank you to all of our friends and coworkers who stepped in to help us out this week. Ryan and Jon for feeding the cats, Brandi, Katie, Darren, Mark, and Pixie for helping cover my shifts with almost no notice. Jeremy and Tim for helping Rob be able to get up here to be with his dad. And everyone else who has had the family and especially dad in their prayers this week.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Hats and Scarves

I received a cute phone call from my niece last week. I picked up the phone and she hung up on me. I called her back and the little one asked why I was calling. I told her she had called me, what did she want? "Uh, um, Suzie, um, can you, um, ahh, um Suzie, will you, uh, um make me a scarf like mommy's?" I said that I could, what color was it? Apparently rainbow is a sufficient answer. So rainbow it is. I am excited that I actually get time to work on it. We are heading to Chicago tonight for Rob's dad's surgery. Without a phone or a computer or a book, I should have plenty of time to knit a scarf for a four year old. I'm thinking a matching 'rainbow' hat should go nicely with it. In lieu of my own children, I feel that I have a sacred responsibility to spoil my only niece rotten. If she needs a scarf and hat for those bitter Tennessee winters, then that is what I will do for her... Since she is four, I will forgive her, but I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the whining about the temperature from the Tennessee crowd with the weather we have been having...especially when they were all raised up here to begin with...

Diapers

Well I have pounded through about half of my to do list and I think I have had enough. The paper wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and actually prompted me to do something I should have done a while ago...


I accidentally started a business sewing cloth diapers. As sometimes happens when you do not realize you have a third job, I quickly ended up over my head and a year and a half ago, decided that I never want to work for anyone else ever again. So I enrolled in an MBA program, discouraged new business and started waiting tables again for the flexibility and the money. The goal is to develop enough business know-how to be able to run a business, deal with suppliers, do my own taxes, license the business, etc. The other problem that I was having was that I knew nothing about how to market myself nor how to handle having employees if this thing ends up being as successful as it seems like it could be. Unfortunately, my old clients are still telling people about my product and a girl I work with asked for a run down on the cost analysis of cloth diapers and environmental statistics. Needless to say, I haven't been able to get to it. I logged into my class this week and lo and behold the assignment was to evaluate the political, social and economic trends affecting your industry, i.e. the diaper industry. What a perfect excuse to research and create marketing paraphernalia! So it now reads like a research paper, but should be relatively easy at this point to convert into a pamphlet...


While I still have my doubts over the need for me to take another econ class, at least I have gotten something out of this one.


Tuesday, January 20, 2009

To Do

Respond to classmates' economic SWOT analysis
Write 5 pages on which economic, social, and political trends are most important to your organization or industry, and why...Ummm
Drink lots of tea (hey, it is really cold today)
Watch inaugural address and evaluate my life goals in context
Clean house (maybe)
Do not start new book
Do not start new book
Start my SWOT analysis
Come up with a page on how the market structure of my industry works
Feed cats
Oh yeah! Feed hubby and myself
Make nightly dose of rice pudding

I really hate economics, half of it I don't get and the other half seems so obvious that debating it seems pointless. "The economy is important" (really! I never would have got that on my own)

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Books and Monica

I love reading. I hate finishing a book. I cannot not be reading a book, so every time I finish a book, I immediately pick out a new book to read. I hate finishing books because it is always so hard to decide. Do I want to get anything done in the next two days? Am I going to want to ignore the world for a couple days? Will this book provide that escape? Do I want funny? suspense? history? different cultures? all of the above? Is this book written in verse (apparently I have to read those types of books out loud or I miss a lot of content)? I think we are sort of on hiatus from the book club thing. We are both reading Paradise Lost, but it isn't one you just sit down and read for four hours straight.

I just finished Couch, which was interesting. It was about three roommates who end up floating out to sea on this couch, has adventure, betrayal, heartbreak, then at the end of their quest they discover that this supernatural couch has the seeds for the destruction and rebirth of mankind. Turns out to be a more interesting couch than any that I have ever owned. What should I read next? The new Orson Scott Card book, the new Kathy Reichs book, one called Gods Behaving Badly about twelve Greek gods sharing a London townhouse? I think it may take longer to decide than to actually read the book.

On a completely different topic, Monica (sister) is coming to town tomorrow. We had mentioned sledding this weekend, but there is a limit to how cold it can be and me still voluntarily stay outside. We have passed that point. I think for me to want to go sledding it has to be at least double digits. Maybe we will stay in and bake the recipes I didn't get around to making for Christmas. Maybe we can make No-Spit candy! (Andy, I cannot tell you how excited I am to have that recipe...) I have a recipe for apple soup I have been meaning to try too... I always enjoy her visits and I think she will be excited...the last time she was here the toilet was in the guest room and our bathroom just had a hole in the floor. We are a little more high-class now, we have a toilet in our bathroom and everything! Fancy!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Job Hunting

There are so many considerations when looking for a new job. I try not to think about the fact that I am going to spend almost a third of my life at this location, with these people. I try convince myself that I will not go crazy this time when faced with a monotonous workday, but the truth is, I am not as well adjusted as all of you... I like my job with dysfunctional people. Dysfunctional people are fun and make me feel remarkably put together, a feeling I don't get often away from work. 'Course I am the boring one at work, but I am amused by their antics. Put in a boring workplace and I will create antics of my own just to make the place interesting or at least I have in the past. I like to think I have matured enough to handle a normal job but the search alone is overwhelming me. This is compounded by the fact the job market stinks right now and I know going into it that it is going to take four times a long and I will have to beat out that many more people and believe in myself that much more...I think I have had enough of being confident and powerful tonight. I will drag my confident and powerful butt to bed and try again tomorrow.

Baby steps...

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Bummin'

On Tuesdays, I meet a friend for an intense day of bummin'. Today, we started by drinking a couple pots of coffee to fortify ourselves for the task ahead. Next on the list was the post office. Unfortunately, the pretentious Broad Ripple location finds it unfashionable to stay open past 4.00 so we headed on to the next location. Stop two was the apothecary where we picked up medicine for Thomas, my youngest son. By the way, he is a cat. I didn't know they had pharmacies for cats, although to be fair, they have people medicine too... Stop three was a post office that was actually interested in serving the public where I mailed my best friend's Christmas present (I get more prompt every year). Then to the bank where I considerably lightened myself of my hard earned cash. We then wandered through Target looking for black work shirts for me and non-holey jeans for him. We had better luck at Wal-Mart though I did find some really cute socks at Target. Then we went through his massive back stash of Art magazines looking for pictures to frame for his new apartment. I laughed for almost twenty minutes of one titled "Cement Cloud" of a...cement cloud poised over a major metropolitan area. I couldn't help but think what would happen when a cloud like that started raining, or became fog...

Monday, January 12, 2009

Lazy Mondays

Which, incidentally, follows lazy Sundays. Syra came over so we could help each other Tonight we had Pad Thai, attempted to be productive, failed miserably and are now both playing on our blogs.

Found an awesome quote for the new year
What reinforcement we may gain from hope.
If not, what resolution from despair.
-Milton, Paradise Lost

Current reading selections include Paradise Lost and a book called Couch about three roommates and their couch that will not let them put it down. Just read the Kreutzer Sonata by Tolstoy that reveals a very distorted philosophical view...abstinence even in marriage?...children just propagating human misery and abnormal behaviors? What a difference in his outlook from the beginning of his life to the end. The Kreutzer Sonata was written just a couple years before his death. Interesting.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sundays

Sundays are one of my two days off. Other than church and homework, the agenda is pretty much cleared for catching up on my projects (see resolutions). Today's parade of daily adventures includes playing 10,000 with Syra while procrastinating on my projects, blogging while procrastinating on my projects, grocery shopping while procrastinating on projects, playing with Ryan's iPhone while procrastinating on projects (it has an application called iBanjo, fun stuff!). You get the point...pretty much that I would rather do anything else than clean out my closet. It would probably help if I was actually at my house, but having not seen Ryan since a week before Christmas, it is hard to tear myself away.

Other interesting happenings...

Our friend Scott is moving to Chicago...he will be missed and he is providing further motivation for the much speculated move to be to the Chicagoland area. If my parents would just move to Chicago then it would be an ideal location. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that the mild Tennessee weather has spoiled them for the north. I distinctly remember complaints about the Indiana November when they were up for Thanksgiving. Personally, I love winter and this has been a fun one already and we have at least two more months of it. Were it not for winter, I wouldn't be able to appreciate the summer. Mostly I find the heat uncomfortable and tedious, but after a nice cold winter, spring and early summer seem nothing short of miraculous to me. It is very easy to see the hand of God in the changing of the seasons and the life cycles of our planet. I think that is why I hated Alabama so much. There were no seasons, no rebirth, no wonder in the new life, all the seasons just ran into one another with glaring monotony.

Gotta love the tangents...I will be back later to update on whether the desire to procrastinate triumphed over the need to cross things off the list.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Resolutions from Outside the Loop

Since I forgot the resolutions part of the last post...

1. Lose 15 pounds. Encouraged from the successes of meeting my weight loss goals from the last two years, my ultimate weight goal is finally within my goal.

2. Declutter House. Moving (again) this year is a more than likely occurance. Plus every year I declutter our house (maybe because we move every year). I think it is a good practice to have.

3. Finish School. Or at least this portion of it. Each time I finish a section of my schooling I promise to never go back to school. At this point in my life, I am honest enough with myself to admit that most of the time I really enjoy school. I have decided that should the opportunity arise, I may go back to school in the future. For now, I am scheduled for graduation in December and I would like to make that appointment.

4. Find Real Job. Umm...while this is probably one of the more important ones, it is probably the one I am least motivated to do. In part, this results from the dreamlike state of our current existence, the one where the sense of the future is all very fuzzy. We know we are moving, but we don't know when or where...do you see why it would be difficult to job hunt?

5. Stop biting my nails. I am 24. I have had nails once that I can remember in my life. When I went with my friend to get our nails done before her wedding, the nail people wept at my poor ravaged nail beds.

6. Keep track of our spending. I always start out so well with this and gradually forget to record my earnings and keep track of our cash spending. This ends up being a lot of gray since most of my earnings come in as cash and everything but bills and gas goes out as cash.

7. Play violin in public. My goal used to be to try out for some sort of orchestra or symphony. My goal this year is to sit on a milk crate in Broad Ripple with my violin case open for people to throw money in. I figure the drunks will be less critical than symphony people...or not, who knows but it sounds like fun anyway.

Best of luck in your endeavors this year!

Apologies and Resolutions

My apologies to anyone anxiously awaiting my postings :) So here is what has happened in the last month: Posted last blog posting, scheduled suicide but had to postpone for lack of time, baked holiday goodies, did homework, worked, slept, baked, did homework, workedsleptbakeddidhomeworketc..., went crazy, wrapped presents, had ice storm, Rob had car accident, had another ice storm, worked on final project for three days solid, packed to go to Chicago, waited to jump on the roads after our ice storm, but before Chicago's ice storm (are you catching a trend here), got to Chicago, slept for the first time in a week, drank lots of hot chocolate, ate lots of food, went to Midnight Mass, had Christmas, read nine books, dreaded the end of my two week vacation, forgot to order my textbook for the new class, worked, slept, did homeworkworkedsleptdidhomework (you get the picture?). I did have a break that I could have used to catch up on my blog, but I refused to touch a computer during that time and thus far I have managed to keep my computer from reading my thoughts...